One Year
by patience-is-blue
Summary: Lucy Weasley is setting out on her final year at Hogwarts, a busy year sure enough, but with all the hidden extras of feeling like an outcast in her family, her sister not telling her secrets anymore, and her best friend making her feel uneasy with her latest love interest. She's not sure if she's ready for this year, but it has to happen. (LorcanXLucy)
1. September

During the summer before seventh year, Lucy had chopped off the majority of her strawberry blonde waves, and drowned out most the strawberry with blonde. Her hair now stopped just above shoulders, just enough length so that she could tuck loose strands behind her ear while she was reading or writing. Molly used to say she'd be better off going bald with all the time she used to spend fiddling with her hair, trying to keep it from attacking her vision, throwing it up into buns and ponytails, braids, and on occasion, pigtails on either side of her freckled face. Whatever she did it never seemed to help, not really. That's why her hair finally made it's way to the chopping block two weeks before the beginning of the new school term.

Now, already seated in their usual compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Lucy waited for her cousins to finish up with their family goodbyes. She watched as a pink haired Dom hugged her father and mother, as a blonde haired Louis looked on impatiently, probably wondering if he'd even have the chance to say goodbye to his parents before the train left the station. Dominique was the type who adored her parents, Lucy could clearly see why. Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur were quite obviously the coolest parents of the clan. Uncle George would argue that statement, but he more often than not fell into the embarrassing dad category, to Fred and Roxanne's displeasure. Lucy's parents fell into the 'overbearing, yet, never around, and want me to be as perfect as Molly' category, which wasn't really a real category, but nobody exactly envied her for being the daughter of Percy Weasley. It wasn't as if she didn't love her dad, she really did, if anything the only reason she was thinking these things now was because she was feeling bitter over the fact that neither of her parents had been here to say goodbye to her today like every other parent who was on Platform 9 and 3/4. They'd both been working. Things at the Ministry had been hectic recently, although nobody would tell her why. She'd even pleaded with Molly, who'd been interning there with her parents, to tell her what was going on on the drive to King's Cross, all she said was, 'you'll find out soon enough'. That was something that irked Lucy, her parents and sister seemed to know everything, and she was always left in the dark. She was an outsider in her own family. Which was understandable, given that not a fibre of her being wanted to work in the bloody Ministry of Magic, and that she'd been sorted into Slytherin and not Gryffindor like her father, or Ravenclaw like her sister and mother. She looked out the window now and wondered what it would be like if she was the daughter of another Weasley. None of her cousins may have envied her, but she sure as hell envied all of them.

Her compartment door slid open, pulling her eyes from the window and her head from her thoughts "Hey 'Sander, hurry up! Luce is already here." The tall, lanky prat, plopped himself down in the window seat opposite her and relaxed. "Phew," he sighed, looking out of the window as she looked on at him. "Mum made us get here by Thestral again. It's a bloody nuisance with our trunks."

"Why didn't you just shrink them?" she questioned, raising her brow playfully. One thing to know about Lucy; she liked to tease people.

Lorcan gave her a look that suggested that he hadn't thought of that simple solution, but she saw his confidence return quickly when he thought up an excuse that didn't make him look as much as numpty as he was. "Ah, but there's rare treasures inside that couldn't possibly be shrunk."

"Oh, yes, I heard the British Museum was trying to get hold of those socks you haven't washed since third year."

"I'll have you know that those socks are the rarest of treasures- Hey! what the bloody hell have you done to your hair?!" She honestly didn't expect him to notice. He reached across and took a strand in his fingers, his thumb brushing ever so slightly against her skin just below her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She instinctively swatted his hand away, and he sat back down properly in his seat. He didn't complain, he must have known he shouldn't have done that the second he did it. See, Lucy and Lorcan Scamander weren't friends, and they weren't cousins, but what they were was family, sort of, not by blood of course, but by her Uncle Harry's inclusion of the Scamanders into the family. Her father never particularly liked them, Lucy never had any sort of strong feelings towards any of them. She got along with them, the way you did with distant cousins that you only saw once or twice a year at special family gatherings. She'd only seen him once over the summer at the Burrow's annual family barbecue, and they hadn't even spoken that day, she had spoken to his twin however when they got into a debate over the latest episode of a muggle time travel TV show they both happened to watch. Although with both Lorcan and Lucy being in their final year, the only time they were likely to talk was on these train journeys, and that was only because it had become somewhat a tradition that herself, the Scamander twins, Dom and James would share the same compartment before going off with their own respective group of friends until the next train journey. Dominique was, however, her respective group of friends, or more like, friend. Singular. Being the only other Weasley who fell into Slytherin house, the two girls became instantly inseparable.

Nothing was said in the compartment until Dominique arrived. Her pink hair was gathered in heap on top of her head, a very oversized Stone Roses t-shirt hid her stick thin body and her yellow doc martens made her tiny feet look about twice their actual size, but she still looked like a model. That's what Veela blood did for you. Lucy looked down self-consciously at her old greying black jeans, and over-worn brogue boots and decided she still looked pretty good even in comparison to her cousin. There was more meat on her bones, but she still lacked the curves that her sister had, and other than Victoire, Lucy was the tallest of the girls at the moment, but she had the feeling that little Lily Luna would eventually claim her spot. Lucy looked up from herself when Dom came crashing down next to her on the seat, and put her feet up on the seat opposite next to Lorcan.

"Why is Lysander chasing Tybalt?" Tybalt was the monster snowball that roamed the school leaving white cat hairs all over everybody's robes that belonged to Lysander. Dom directed her question at both of them, they both responded with half-arsed shrugs. "Bloody useless, the both of you." And as if on queue a loud 'meow' followed by a 'James, catch him!' was heard from outside.

The three looked to the door as a disgruntled James Potter appeared in the compartment's doorway, covered with little white hairs (it was really unfortunate that he'd decided to wear a black shirt), muttering something along the lines of, "Forget a damn basket, that thing needs an iron cell with sixty locks and bolts." He perched himself on the seat next to Dominique, seeing has her feet were still occupying the space next to Lorcan, and Lysander would want to share the side with his brother. Speaking of Lysander, he followed James into the compartment with a very annoyed looking Tybalt clutched in his arms. Before Lysander could sit down the train buckled as it set off from the station, making him stumble and dropping the monster. The face of pure panic crossed his face, he wasn't prepared to chase that thing again, but it was unnecessary. Lucy watched as the cat wandered over and jump up on Dominique's lap, curled up and started to purr as she stroked him.

"Ha, he likes me!" Dom rejoiced, as Lysander took his seat next to her feet.

"He's not the only one." It was said in a way that the other boys didn't hear because they were too busy trying to rid themselves of white cat hair, but Lucy had heard it. Lorcan was now smiling at Dom in a way that made her feel uneasy, and then when she looked at Dom, she saw that she was smiling back.

 **A/N: Just wanted to say hi! This is my first fic I've published in about five years so I hope you guys enjoy! Nothing much really happened in this chapter, just setting stuff up. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Review and Critique if you wish.**


	2. October

It was late in the Slytherin common room, only two girls were left occupying the sofas. Lucy and Dominique would usually do this after a late night in the Three Broomsticks, they'd just lie there and talk, not ready to fall asleep yet. They were as close as sisters, if not closer, they hardly kept secrets from each other. Lucy knew for a fact that she told Dom every single detail of her life, that or Dom had been apart of those details and didn't need her tell her about them. They'd fallen into one of their comfortable silences at this point. Lucy wanted to say something, she was trying to build up the courage, but it seemed that Dominique had been trying to do exactly the same thing. And as Lucy opened her mouth to speak, Dominique was already speaking.

"Lorcan asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him next weekend." Lucy turned her head to look at Dominique, only to see her looking up at the ceiling, with no particular expression crossing her pristine face. She looked so calm and tranquil, and Lucy felt like her heart might rip from her chest with the speed her it had taken up beating all of a sudden. Irritated that her heart had decided to act this way again, she joined her cousin at staring up at the ceiling of the Slytherin common room.

"Oh." She applauded herself on her use of creativity.

"Oh?" Dominique sat up suddenly, alerting Lucy of the actual importance of this conversation. She followed suit and sat up as well and looked at her cousin, who spun off questions like a broken record. "What should I do, Luce? What should I tell him?"

Lucy shook herself mentally before responding, she forgot the way her heart was acting up, and put herself to one side, so that she could focus on her cousin and what was best for her. What was best for her chilled out and fun cousin, Dominique, was for her to not feel like this was serious. Lucy changed her frown to a little grin and raised her eyebrows up and down. "Do you like him?" She teased, in a sweet tone. The air in the room changed to playful all too suddenly and the effect took place in Dom just as quickly. When she spoke next, it wasn't full of urgency or concern, but the fun uncertainty this twist in her fate held.

"I don't know." Dominique mimicked Lucy's voice, her smile lighting up.

"Okay, fine. Talk to me about it all then." Lucy laughed, throwing a cushion at her blushing cousin.

Lucy found it easier to forget herself as the conversation continued, with a couple stabs to the heart along the way, by the end she didn't even notice her unusual heart rate. They talked about how Dominique felt about Lorcan, and then she came to the conclusion that she really did't know how she felt about him yet. Lucy found herself coming to the very same conclusion. Only about her own feelings for him. She was unsure as to when it started, all these little bursts of jealousy, all the random heart palpitations, all the times she'd found herself looking in his direction in the Great Hall. She just knew that her indifference to the Ravenclaw boy had changed. Changed to what? She honestly couldn't tell you. She had been thinking about telling Dominique about all of these feelings tonight, just to try to get to grips with them, but clearly that wasn't a sensible course of action anymore. And without even realising it, Lucy was keeping a secret from the one person she trusted with everything.

"You should go with him." Lucy said finally. Why she wanted Dom to go on a date with a boy she may or may not have romantic feelings for was something else she just couldn't understand. It was as if she didn't know anything anymore and that her mouth had decided to take a different course of action to her head, and although she didn't really want to admit it, to her heart as well.

"You really think I should?" Lucy nodded, smiling, and that was the end of that. The two girls set off to bed then. Lucy had a dream-filled night, of a grey-eyed boy and a pink-haired girl and her heart breaking.

It was a couple of days later that Dominique brought up the subject of Lorcan. Lucy had realised by now that the only reason she had been so irrationally full of feelings for him that night was because of the firewhisky still in her system. She was glad she hadn't spoken her false feelings aloud. Dom jumped her in the hallway to her Astronomy class, linking her arm with Lucy's so that they fell into sink.

"I spoke to Lorcan." She whispered before saying anything else.

"Really? That's a shock." Lucy joked, sarcastically.

"Shush you. This is important." And it sounded important, surprisingly. Before she could say anything else, the devil they spoke of passed them. He was with his brother, probably on the way to Care of Magical Creatures. There was a moment where his eyes made contact with Lucy's, only to glide past her and fall on Dominique. He didn't look happy in the slightest, rather sad if anything. Dominique only returned his gaze with a small half smile, before pulling Lucy forwards into a faster paced walk.

Once he was completely out of sight, Lucy pushed Dom into a small alcove, facing her with an expression of utter confusion. "What did you say to the poor guy? He looked like he was about to cry!" She asked in a urgent half whisper.

"Oh, I know, don't remind me. I feel terrible." She cupped her head in her hands in despair, and then looked back up at Lucy, who was still waiting for an answer. Dominique sighed. "So, told him that I'd go to Hogsmeade with him on Saturday." Lucy nodded, knowing this part of the story. "But this morning I told I didn't want to go anymore." She talked slowly. One word at a time, as if she was making sure that Lucy understood clearly what she was saying so she wouldn't have to say it again.

"Why?!" Lucy inquired, still keeping her voice in a harsh whisper.

"I don't know…" Dom looked away, and with that Lucy knew that she did actually know why.

"Why?" She pressured, more seriously.

Dominique looked back at her and disclosed the real reason why she wasn't going to Hogsmeade with Lorcan anymore. "Kieran Nott asked me if I wanted to go with him to the Halloween party…" Kieran Nott was a boy that Lucy knew Dominique at liked back in fourth year, it was obvious now that those feelings hadn't completely gone, as she couldn't help but smile a little.

"But what about Lorcan?" Although a rather sudden and surprising wave of relief washed over Lucy, she couldn't help but feel incredibly sorry for the boy.

"You knew I didn't fully know how I felt about him." Dom was trying to convince not only herself but Lucy as well that she had done the right thing. "I know how I feel about Kieran."

Lucy sighed, not really alerting Dominique on how she felt about the situation, which she knew would bother her. "Come on, I'm probably going to be late now."

Halloween. Lucy Weasley's favourite holiday. As a child she used to go trick-or-treating with Dominique and her family. Molly never wanted to go, and her parents were always too busy. One year, they must have been about eight, both girls wanted to go as zombie princesses. They got into a big argument about it, because neither of them wanted the same costume as anybody else. As much as Lucy wanted to be a zombie princess, in the end she let Dominique wear her costume, and Lucy went a very ordinary princess. It was the first time Lucy had let Dominique have something she really wanted. Since then it had become a rather unfortunate habit of Lucy's.

The feast in the Great Hall had ended, the younger students were all tucked up in bed, the older students were up telling scary stories, and the 7th years were getting ready for a party. It had become a sort of tradition in Hogwarts over the last decade or so that all the students in their final year attend a super secret halloween party that took place in the Room of Requirement. In all honesty, most students and professors knew of the halloween party, but as long as nothing incredibly dangerous happened they continued to pretend that they had no idea of any Halloween party taking place in the school. Lucy wore a cream cotton dress with a crown of black roses on her head. From what she'd heard nobody dressed up as anything for this halloween party, except for the odd mischief maker with a white sheet and a need to annoy the castle's ghosts, which she was glad for since she was little stumped for ideas. From what Dominique had told her she was going to wear a black dress with a white collar. She hadn't seen her best friend since midway through the feast. She'd snuck off early to get ready so she could meet with Kieran Nott early and have some 'alone time'. Lucy shook her head at the memory of that conversation, she just felt bad for Lorcan. She had no idea whether he'd come tonight or not, he probably would, everybody did. Lucy couldn't imagine what his reaction might be when he found out Dom was there with another boy.

She was walking along the the low lit stone corridors of Hogwarts, as she turned the corner she ran into something, more like someone. A white sheet ghost stood in front of her, her first instinct was to scream, but of course she didn't do that, she jumped back instantly as the sheet flew up to reveal a face.

"Lucy? Is that you? Can't see a bloody thing in this light."

"James! For Christ's sake! You gave me a heart attack!" She whispered harshly.

"Didn't mean to do that. Sorry." He actually sounded rather apologetic. "You off to the Room of Requirement? I've been wondering around for ages. Apparently I just don't want to party enough, because it just ain't appearing for me."

"Yeah, I'm heading over there now. You sure you've been in the right place?"

"Of course! I'm not a total fool."

James and Lucy fell into a quiet conversation as they made their way to the party. Just small talk, catching up on what's been happening over the last month, since they hadn't really spoken. Soon enough the conversation turned to the Lorcan and Dominique scandal.

"Isn't she coming tonight with Anthony Bolt?" He asked her after she'd explained that Dominique had canceled her date with Lorcan because of another boy.

"No. Kieran Nott." Lucy corrected with a snort.

"You're kidding? He's a prick! Lorcan is heartbroken, y'know? And seeing her with somebody else, especially Nott, is not gonna help the situation."

"Lorcan's coming tonight?" Lucy's heart suddenly jumped, just for a second she let herself be excited that he'd be there.

"He better. Me and Lysander spent the best part of yesterday trying to convince him to come. Meet someone new, get over Dom. I mean, he's only liked her since the end of last year. Can't be too hard, right?"

Lucy nodded in silent agreement as they reach a stone wall. It didn't take to long for a huge, heavy, wooden door to appear in front of the two. The doors swung open to reveal the room inside. It was rather large, but still cozy. That may have had something to do with the lighting. It almost pitch black, with only a few candles around the room as the only light sources, some of which were enchanted to give off green flames. Old and tattered sofas littered one area of the room, cobwebs hung over head, alongside floating pumpkins, and skeletons hung from the walls. The area of room that had no seating had tables, with sweets and chocolates, as well as all sorts of drinks. There was a slight husk of music in air, Lucy recalled it to be an old band that had been in their prime while her parents were at school, the Weird Sisters or something along those lines.

"Hey, I'll see you later, Luce." James added quickly before darting off to his group of friends, who cheered at his approach. Lucy waved and mumbled a quick 'goodbye', distracted herself. It didn't take her long to spot Dominique, it never did, she had a huge presence in any room she walked into. She was on one of the sofas, with her lovely date, Kieran Nott. Lucy could go over and say hi, but she didn't particularly want to interrupt a whatever sordid conversation they were whispering in each others' ears.

Lucy was glad to not take up as much attention as Dominique did. It meant she could drift through the crowd of seventh years, grab a drink, find a nice secluded sofa, only having to greet the people she wanted to greet along the way. She'd sat down on a sofa that faced the door, she found herself staring at it, taking small sips from her drink as she did. Time didn't feel like it was passing. She knew who she was waiting for, there was no point in kidding herself. Soon enough her drink was empty. Just as she started considering getting up to get another, she felt a presence sit down beside. She turned to meet those grey eyes she'd been waiting for all night. When had he gotten here? And how had she missed it?

"You look as sad and pathetic as I feel." Lorcan said before anything else, surprisingly with a joking smirk on his face.

"Wow, thanks, Lorcan. You know exactly how to make a girl feel special." She rolled her eyes at him, matching his smirk.

Lorcan sat back into the cushions on the sofa, with a grimace and sigh. Lucy saw the error in her words too late. Clearly, Lorcan's recent experience with wooing girls was still a saw subject.

"I'm sorry about Dominique." She decided to get this conversation over with, but she was genuinely sorry for him and she wanted him to know that.

"Ah, it's okay. Asking her out was a long shot anyway."

"It's not okay." Lucy clarified. "Dom doesn't think things through enough. If Kieran hadn't asked her out she would have gone with you to Hogsmeade, and who knows where that would have lead…" She was babbling, and finding it hard to stop. A part of her was trying not insult Dominique in anyway, but at the same time she was still annoyed at her for how easily she could hurt somebody she'd known pretty much all her life.

"Lucy!" Lucy shut up at the call for her attention. "Luce, I know- I think you're trying to help. But it's really not helping."

"Sorry," She sighed, making herself comfortable amongst the cushions.

"It's alright."

They both fell into an uncomfortable silence. Lucy didn't know what else to say, and she could almost feel Lorcan trying to think of something to say as well.

"Do you wanna get really drunk with me?" He asked her finally.

Lucy shrugged. "Sure."


End file.
